Telepresence

Telepresence is the ability to communicate with others from a distance according to Marvin Minsky. Like any new technology, it has pros and cons. With this, educators are able to reach a wider and more diverse population, but it has a sort of disconnect between classmates that leaves some unsatisfied. It can provide a new way of communicating that is more comfortable and efficient. It also makes the user more proficient in using technology. I can see where learning would be enhanced by telepresence, but I am a little old-fashioned and still enjoy face to face interactions with my professors. The article indicated that there was less overall satisfaction and sense of community. I believe we learn as individuals, but we are taught as a group. This can cause some people to be dissatisfied with learning in an environment that is non-traditional. These finding make sense since building community is the most obvious flaw in the technology.

Diigo

I read a lot of articles for class and about education. I started using Diigo just today and I can see how it will be extremely useful to use when I am doing research for a class or organizing my articles about education and the importance of reading. I have included the link to my Diigo in the links section. I got the add on to work in Google Chrome, but I typically use Firefox so this is a little bit of an adjustment for me. One of the browser extensions that I have used before this class was Send to Kindle. It takes any document on the web and sends it as a pdf to your Kindle. It's free and easy to use. I think Diigo works best with the Designing Digital Age Learning Experiences objective as well as Modeling Digital Age Work and Learning. I would love to see research on how reading comprehension is affected if the student is using a tool like Diigo in required readings.

Averages and Bar Graph in Excel

Here is my spreadsheet for practicing with averages and creating graphs in Excel (all of which I did not know how to do).

Helpful tools for reading

I mentioned that I love to read and one way that I keep straight all of the books that are on my to read wishlist and books that I have already read is Goodreads. I also use Fantastic Fiction (http://goo.gl/qtrZG3) to sort out which books to read in what order in a series. I hate starting in the middle so I always want make sure that I am starting at book one.

Hello!

Hello! My name is Jo, and I currently work at Shenandoah University. While working in this incredible place, I also get the chance to take classes. My passion in life is reading. I love to read most anything that has a plot (except horror). Biographies sometimes interest me, but I tend not to read non-fiction. My favorite place in the world is actually my own home which I share with my husband and daughter. My favorite cyber place in the world is Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/.